Arashi - Konoha's Rogue
by ChicoT
Summary: The tale of the mute boy turned ninja, Arashi. Story will be a bit different from canon, and mostly follows the life of characters I created.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hello everyone, and welcome to **Arashi – Konoha's Rogue**. First of all, this is my first time ever writing… anything really. I have 0 experience with writing besides school tests. Oh, and English isn't even my first language. I consider myself pretty good at it, but I might make a few spelling mistakes here and there. Having said that, I've never read any fanfiction besides **The Sealed Kunai**, by **Kenchi618** (which was pretty good), and I'm sorry if I end up using any ideas that someone has used before. A friend of mine actually told me about this site after I told him that writing my own Naruto story would be pretty cool. So, here I am. Anyways, I'm going to leave this first chapter here for a while before updating, since I'm still trying to plan out the full extent of my story. The story will be following some parts of canon, but will diverge in dates and the final outcome, but you'll be informed of any major changes. Well, let me stop my rambling and let's get on with the story. Hope you enjoy!

_Year __x__ AK means __x__ years after the year the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Meaning, year 0 AK was the year Naruto was born._

* * *

**_Year 6 AK_**

**_20_****_th_****_ September_**

Life was unfair in this world. The strong ruled the weak and the weak were ruled by the strong. Of course this could work great if you were ruled by a Kage that swore to protect the lives of everyone in their village and that wasn't malicious, but if by chance you were from a non-shinobi village, you had no way of defending yourself against bandit and thief raids, you were always at their mercy.

Arashi Kibo was a really happy child, always smiling and willing to help his parents run the family inn. He had his dad's spiky light brown hair, and his mom's grey eyes. He lived with his parents in the inn they owned, which was located on the border of the Land of Fire, next to a mostly peaceful dirt road that led to the Land of Hot Water, which they were close to.

His family had been running the inn for a few generations. A long time ago, his great-grandparents had settled there with a couple other families who ran different businesses, having started a kind of small village. There was a grocery shop, a clothes shop, a dango restaurant and even a couple of farms.

This of course meant that their small community was fairly independent, having a small need to import anything. Over the years the tiny village had become a stopping point of sorts, for all sorts of travelling people. They would receive mostly merchants or people going on vacation, but they would also get the occasional ninja here and there. Overall, the lives of people who lived here were pretty peaceful and calm.

But everyone knows that nothing that good lasts forever.

Arashi woke up to the noises of a heated argument downstairs. Normally at this time of the night things would be quiet at the inn. Arashi rose from his bed and went to see what was happening. As he got to the stairs, he peeked and saw his mom and dad arguing with some shady looking people. He couldn't make out exactly what the argument was, his five-year-old ears not quite capable enough yet, but he heard his parents say something of the sort that '_they didn't need their protection nor their products_'.

He then went further down the stairs and crouched in a way that he couldn't be seen. The argument was getting more and more heated. The men seemed to be set on having his dad purchase what he had to sell. The discussion was starting to become less and less civil until his dad put an end to it. He yelled: "Like I said before, we are NOT interested! Please leave my inn before I MAKE you. Have a wonderful night."

His dad then turned around and the men seemed to have quieted down after his dad's threat.

Little did Arashi know those threats would be his dad's last words.

Just after he turned around, his dad was stabbed in the back with a katana. It had gone straight through his heart. He looked shocked. I mean, who wouldn't? Being backstabbed isn't something that people are used too. The room had gotten really quiet. All that could be heard were the man's dying noises. Arashi was frozen in place. Had his dead just been killed? He suddenly felt cold sweats run trough him and felt really lightheaded. He instantly vomited the contents of his stomach, breaking the silence that had settled in the room. This was all it took for the thugs to take notice of his presence.

"Arashi run!", yelled his mom. He had never seen such a panicked expression on the woman's face before. He took a couple of seconds, then turned around and ran, instinct taking over. He would never see his mother alive again. He got to his bedroom and climbed up the window. Without hesitation, he jumped. With adrenaline rushing trough his body, he never felt his foot break.

He ran to the streets, only to find other thugs killing people he knew, burning down stores and neighboring houses. He hid in an underground pantry next to his house, which seamed like the right choice at the time.

Locking himself in, Arashi just crouched and tried to wrap his head around what was happening. He bawled his eyes out as much as any other five-year-old in his position would. He had just lost his dad, and probably his mom, heck he might even have lost everyone he actually knew. His heart was beating as fast as it had ever beat, this all felt like a dream. A really fucked up dream.

After ten minutes passing, that had felt like days to Arashi, he noticed the darkness of the pantry slowly disappearing. The doors to the pantry had caught on fire. If it had just caught on fire naturally or if it had been out to lure him out, he did not know. What he did know was that he had to get out of there. He prayed that they were gone. He wished with all fibers of his being that he was hallucinating.

He got out of the pantry. He wasn't hallucinating.

And they weren't gone.

Were his life not in danger Arashi would have probably stood there, staring shocked at the dead bodies in the street. The only thing that Arashi noticed at that moment was that one of the thugs had seen him leave the pantry. He tried to run, but his broken foot wouldn't allow him to run fast. He was doing the best he could. The bandit that had seen was laughing at the child's pathetic attempt at escaping and, with a little jog, was able to catch up to the child. He proceeded to hold him up by his foot. The child looked at the thug's eyes. They showed no remorse for what they had done, in fact, they reflected the fun the man was having killing everyone he knew. The man looked Arashi straight in the eyes, and, without a second thought, slit his throat.

As he lay on the floor, he felt cold. He wasn't even afraid, he had already lost his precious people, he didn't even want to wake up to whatever came next. As a matter of fact, in that moment in time, Arashi wouldn't mind dying, if it meant being in peace and not in pain. At least he'd be with his dad. As his thoughts slowly faded, he passed out.

* * *

Kakashi had lived a life full of sadness so far. Having started his shinobi career during the Third Great Ninja War, he had witnessed many of the horrors that the ninja world had to offer. He had seen his father commit suicide, he had seen his best friend Obito get killed and he had even killed Rin in an unfortunate turn of events. And a few years later he had lost the last person he truly cared about, as his sensei, the Fourth Hokage, had died protecting the village from the Kyuubi. Later on in his life, Kakashi had thrown himself into Anbu, going on suicide mission after suicide mission, in an attempt to forget about his past or even maybe die himself.

This mission, however, was a pretty simple one for a change. He had been assigned a simple B-rank mission. He was informed that groups of bandits had been robbing and pillaging villages that had low to no protection all over the Land of Fire, and it was his mission to find one of these groups, kill them and collect some intel on the theorized other groups that were also committing these crimes.

Movement on one of these groups had been known recently, and they should be coming into the Land of Fire from the Land of Hot Water.

It was fairly simple to deduce that they would try and rob the tiny village that was set close to the border and that was known to be a common stopping point for anyone travelling.

Kakashi, codenamed Hound in Anbu, was assigned this mission alongside Tenzo, a Wood Style user in Anbu. They got along well enough, which would make this simple mission even easier.

As they arrived at their destination, they both cringed at what they saw. Dead bodies were all over the floor, buildings were burning, and bandits were still running around, screaming and killing.

Without any words being said, both Kakashi and Tenzo eliminated most of the outlaws quickly, leaving who they assumed to be the leader alive, so that he could be taken back to Konoha for interrogation.

"… are there any survivors?", asked Kakashi in a sad tone.

"Yes Leader. I found a woman alive and well, but she was too shocked to come with me, so I knocked her out painlessly. Should we bring her to Konoha?", answered Tenzo.

Kakashi looked at the woman that was slung over Tenzo's shoulder, who looked no older than twenty. She was short, slim and had long blonde hair. Her skin was pale, but that might've due to what she had just gone through.

"Yes, there's no point in leaving her here. We should go back to base and report to Hokage-sama ASAP, so that he can send a team to clean this mess up. On the way we have to leave this bastard with Ibiki, he might have some valuable information for us."

Tenzo just nodded in response.

As they were about to leave, Kakashi heard what he assumed to be a dying wheeze. He turned around and spotted what seemed to be a small child in the bushes. As he approached the noise, he saw the figure of a dying child, with a huge cut across his neck, blood leaking from it, and a few broken limbs, from what he assumed ha been caused to the child by being thrown into the bushes.

Quickly, Kakashi picked up the child and used a small medical jutsu he knew that would numb the boy's pain for a little while. He sometimes wondered how this world could be so shitty, but he quickly pushed this thought to the back of his mind, as he knew what he had to do.

"Let's go, we need to get this boy to the hospital quickly."

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He had returned to the Hokage position 6 years ago, after his successor, the Fourth Hokage, had passed away due to the Kyuubi attack. It hadn't been easy coming out of retirement, but with the unfortunate death of his wife, the transition back had been more than welcomed, as he had nothing to occupy his time with.

He loved Konoha. The village had been his whole life since he was a child, and he would gladly protect it until his dying breath.

The Third Hokage was a very humane person. He was compassionate and full of empathy, always making decisions regarding the village that he felt were just and were 'the right thing to do'. This also made him want to help all people in need, even if they weren't from his village.

Kakashi had finished his mission briefing a few minutes ago, and everything seemed to have been handled without a hitch. It was a shame that the people of that village had gone through that, but what was done was done. Sarutobi of course allowed the two survivors to stay there for a while, and he had asked Kakashi to bring him the surviving woman to him so that they could speak.

_~Two days later~_

In front of his desk stood the woman he had asked for. She had a really sad demeanor about her, and she seemed really uncomfortable with the whole situation. Hiruzen sighed, the violence of this world was always ruining people's lives and trashing away their humanity. He tried to put on his best smile.

"Even tough you've been here for a few days, allow me to welcome you to Konoha, my dear. My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha. I wish we had met under better circumstances, but I'm afraid that wasn't possible. Could you please introduce yourself?", the old Hokage said in the friendliest way he could.

"Yes, Hokage-sama.", The woman said as she bowed. "My name is Haruki Aoyama, thank you for saving me and my nephew's lives."

The Hokage noticed her voice crack when she mentioned her nephew, and he could only guess it was because she had never been made aware of his condition.

"My, there's no need for such formalities Haruki-san. I called you here because I simply wanted to offer you and your nephew the possibility of continuing your lives as citizens of Konoha. We have an economical plan for crisis survivors like yourself, which would allow you to live here for two months rent free, which should give you enough time to get yourself a reliable source of income.", it was the best he could do, he knew there was never compensation that would be enough regarding the loss of loved ones.

The woman teared up at the offer, and immediately bowed again.

"Thank you so much Hokage-sama! We would gladly live here! Thank you so much!", the woman blurted out as if her life depended on it, which made the Hokage chuckle.

"Well my dear, no need to thank me, I am just following procedure."

Sarutobi made a motion with his hand and, out of nowhere, an Anbu ninja appeared, which startled Haruki. The Hokage whispered something in the Anbu's ear, to which he nodded, and vanished.

"So, Haruki-san, do you have any further questions?", the Hokage asked softly.

"Well, I was wondering where the hospital was located so that I could visit my little nephew.", answered Haruki.

"I'll tell you what, meet me at the entrance of the Hokage tower, which is the building you're currently in, at 8 pm, which is the time I normally leave. I'll go to the hospital with you, since I'm interested in meeting the boy. In the meantime, I'll have Kakashi here escort to the apartment that you'll be living in", as the Hokage finished saying that, the silver-haired jonin appeared and gave one of his signature eye-smiles. "Yo!"

* * *

_~In the hospital~_

Arashi was stirring in his bed, slowly getting a grip of his consciousness. He lazily opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was his aunt tearing up and he was instantly pulled into a tight hug. He was so glad that he hadn't been left alone. His aunt, who was his mother's little sister, had always been a constant in his life. She loved him a lot, and they got along really well.

"Arashi! I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried…", his aunt said in between sobs.

When Arashi went to respond, he noticed that he couldn't. Something in his throat didn't feel right. 'Oh no' he thought. His face went to sudden desperation as he tried to scream, yell, anything, but the only sounds that would come out were of his ragged breathing.

Realization hit like a ton of bricks to Haruki, as she took notice of the huge horizontal scar on her nephew's throat. Her grip on him tightened, as tears flowed down both their cheeks, and she hushed, "Everything is going to be okay… We're going to be okay…"

The Hokage watched this whole interaction with a frown on his face. How could someone be cruel enough to take away a child's ability to speak? Sure, they wanted to kill him, but if they had meant to instantly kill him the cut wouldn't have been that shallow, which meant that the aggressor intended the child to suffer. When the groups of bandits were all found, he would make sure that all of them were killed.

Hiruzen was snapped out of his thoughts as a doctor entered the room.

"Oh, Hokage-sama. I didn't expect to see you here.", The doctor said surprised.

"Well, I just thought I should come and check on our newest village member. What can you tell me about his condition?", The Hokage asked.

"There's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the cut he suffered to his throat was deep enough to reach his vocal cords, which is mean that he will be unable to speak. The good news is, that the damage isn't irreversible. It would take a medical jutsu genius, but trough a delicate surgery his vocal cords could, eventually, be repaired and he would be able to speak again. Even though it's a slim chance, there will always be hope for him to speak again."

"That's good to know. Anything else?", The Hokage questioned. The doctor nodded.

"In terms of other physical injuries, the broken bones are fully healed. Inoichi-san gave his mind a little check and confirmed that his mind as healthy as it can be. This basically means that he is good to go, he can go home." The doctor answered with a smile.

Hiruzen approached the duo of newcomers. He felt sad that there wasn't anything else that he could to for them. The least he could do was accompany them home.

"Hello Arashi-kun. Has your aunt told you who I am?"

Arashi nodded, without letting go of his aunt.

"Good, then there's no need for introductions. Haruki-san, allow to take you two home."

* * *

Author's note: Let me know what you think of it, any changes you think I should make, and you're free to suggest ideas for the story, but I probably won't use them unless they fit what I'm thinking. Oh, and I'm not writing any lemons, fuck that.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Hi everyone! Here's the second chapter of my story. I'm going to be honest when I say I don't really know where I'm going with it. I feel like it's kinda garbage but oh well you won't get better unless you practice I guess... The pacing of the story will be relatively quick, at least in part 1. I'm planning on having a huge time skip like cannon Naruto, but I'm still thinking about it. Sorry for any gramatical errors, I usually write at like 2 am so I'm sleepy as hell. Anyway, please enjoy!

_Year __x__ AK means __x__ years after the year the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Meaning, year 0 AK was the year Naruto was born._

**_Year 6 AK_**

**_10th October_**

It was a cloudy day in Konoha. Arashi was having breakfast with his auntie in their new home. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment, with a small kitchen/living room and a decent sized bathroom. Haruki had started working as cook/waitress a few weeks after they moved in, at a place where they cooked ramen or something, Arashi didn't really care. What mattered the most was that he wasn't alone, he lived with an aunt that loved him very much, he had a roof over his head, food on the table and clothes to wear. All-in-all, he was happy. Or satisfied. He had trouble telling the difference these days, but that didn't matter much, as things were getting better.

His aunt was loving her job, and she had made friends rather quickly. She had made friends with a purple-haired kunoichi, named Anko. They had met at a dango stand and had instantly connected over their shared love for the dish. She had also become friends with Kakashi. The two twenty-year-olds had lost a lot in their lives, and that made them understand each other in a weird kind of way. They usually only hung out together when Haruki would go pick up Arashi from school, as Kakashi would check in on them and accompany them home.

Arashi had joined the community school, where he had learned how to read and write. He took to it way faster than most of his peers, but that was out of sheer necessity. If he couldn't write, how would he communicate? Not the he had any friends to communicate with. Even tough he had only joined school two weeks late, the other kids had already grouped up. Plus, the not talking thing didn't help.

After a month of school Arashi was in the top 5 in terms of grades out of his thirty-student class. He probably could have been first, but teachers didn't tend to like students who slept through all of the afternoon classes.

At school Arashi had been told that in three years, in the year that he and his classmates turned eight, they would have to make the decision to either continue school in pursuit of an academic career or to join the Academy, a place where kids would train and study for 5 years in order to become a ninja. Most kids who joined the Academy had shinobi parents, or came from clans, which meant that they didn't go to school prior to the Academy. Both in community school and the Academy, school usually started mid-September and ended at the end of June, with a big summer break in between school years.

"…. Arashi are you listening?"

He looked at his aunt with a confused expression, which meant that no, he wasn't listening.

"Hurry up and finish breakfast, we're going to go around and look at the festival. We didn't have this kind of event back home, let's make the most of it!" The blonde woman exclaimed.

Haruki was a very energetic person; she would be very active at all times and was always trying to do something if she wasn't working. That would explain why Arashi struggled to wake her up in the mornings, having to, more often then not, resort to the good ol' water bucket.

* * *

Arashi and his aunt wandered around the streets, stopping at the occasional food stall to eat something, or stopping to play some games that were being played on the street.

Arashi was wearing his usual clothes, which were a white high-collared short sleeved shirt, and baby blue shorts, along with black sporty shoes. His aunt wore a grey kimono, along with a white shirt and jeans.

Arashi thought festivals were supposed to be happy, but looking around, most people had a mournful expression on their face. His aunt then explained to him that 6 years ago, the year before Arashi was born, a huge nine-tailed demon fox, known as the Kyuubi, had attacked the village, and that the Hokage at the time had sacrificed himself in order to defeat the demon fox. So, each year on this date, people celebrated the former Hokage's sacrifice and mourned the losses that were had that day.

But that didn't explain why a random ass blonde kid was being chased around.

What the hell?

Arashi immediately ran after the small mob of 5 drunk men to see what was going on. Naturally his aunt followed him.

Arashi came up on an alley where the men were trying to beat up the child.

"What the hell are y'all doing! Have you gone insane!? He's just a child let him go!", Haruki yelled as she made her way through the group of men. She grabbed the blonde boy by the hand and took him away from there. The three of them speed walked for a while until the coast was clear.

Arashi recognized the boy. He was in the school class one year above him. He was known around school to be a goofball and a troublemaker, and that's why he didn't have many friends, Arashi assumed.

"Are you okay sweetie? Why were those men trying to hurt you?", Haruki asked concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine. This happens every year, so I've gotten used to it, I don't really know why they do it though.", The boy offered a sad smile.

Haruki nodded in understanding, she hadn't a clue what those men could possibly want with the boy, so she would bring this up to the Hokage the next time that they met.

"What's your name then? I'm Haruki and this is my nephew Arashi", She said as she motioned for Arashi to greet, which resulted in a nod and smile form the boy.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, Ichiraku ramen lover and future greatest Hokage ever!", The blonde boy said with all the confidence in the world.

"Well Naruto, I actually have started to work at Ichiraku's recently, so next time you go there I'll treat you to a free bowl of ramen", The woman said kindly.

"Alright! Thanks Haruki-neechan! I'll see you around then, bye!", The boy said as he left running and waving them goodbye.

'He's so weird', Arashi thought.

* * *

**_Year 8 AK_**

**_10th October_**

Who would've thought that two years later Naruto and Arashi would be friends? Today was Naruto's 8th birthday. Arashi had been invited to go to the Hokage Tower, which was connected to the Academy, as the Hokage had planned out a little surprise party for Naruto. He wasn't really sure what to buy or do at parties in general, so he just showed up without giving it much thought.

When he got there, Arashi quickly looked around to see who was there. In the room present were who he assumed to be Naruto's friends and special people: The Hokage, Naruto's Academy sensei, Shikamaru, Choji and Kiba.

'Well, at least he has friends', Arashi thought. Even after two years of school, he couldn't call any of his classmates friends. When they found that Arashi couldn't actually speak, they had actually made fun of him for a couple of months. The inability to connect with anyone his own age had ended up making Arashi slightly socially awkward. Being a great student without studying also made other kids jealous of him.

Oh well, but as a very wise man once said, 'Fuck them kids.'

Things had been weird in general for a few months, especially since the Uchiha Massacre back in July. Arashi had never paid much attention to the clan but knew of its' importance as one of the founding clans of the village. To this day the whole vibe in the village was changed, as one of the most powerful ninjas ever produced by the village, Itachi Uchiha, went on a killing spree against his whole clan, leaving only his little brother behind.

Ten minutes went by, and Naruto finally arrived.

"Surprise!", everyone yelled in unison. Well, everyone except Arashi.

Naruto was dumbfounded by the action. He had never celebrated his birthday. In fact, he had come to hate his birthday because of the annual Naruto chase. This caused him to have the biggest grin he had ever had, as he thanked each person individually.

It hadn't been much of a party, Arashi thought. They hung out for like 15 minutes, sang happy birthday, ate cake and went on their merry way.

Surprisingly enough, in those 15 minutes, he had made acquaintances with Shikamaru and Choji. They had been really understanding of his condition, talking to him even if they had to wait 1 minute each time Arashi wanted to say something, because he had to write it out on his little blackboard.

Kiba, being the impatient mutt that he was, found it too annoying to wait for the boy to speak, so he didn't speak to him at all.

When Arashi got home he was excited to tell his aunt what had happened at the party and tell her that he finally made other friends.

When he opened the door to his apartment, he saw his aunt and… Kakashi?

They both greeted him with a smile, asking how the party had gone.

His mind was somewhere else now though. His aunt and Kakashi never hung out in their apartment…. Or did they?

'I don't like where this is going.', thought Arashi as he finally started writing what had happened at the party.

* * *

**_Year 9 AK_**

**_28th June_**

Well here we were. The final day of community school for Arashi. After class he would be given two forms: one to continue school as a civilian, and one to enroll in the Shinobi Academy. If you had asked him months ago, he would've had no clue what to pick. But that wasn't the case anymore.

_(Flashback to two weeks ago)_

_Arashi stood on top of the Hokage mountain. He had started coming here almost every day after school since Naruto had shown him this place. Crazy to think that a mute and a person who couldn't shut up would become friends. He had also become decent friends with Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara, but besides those three, Arashi didn't really have friends._

_He looked below onto the village and felt weird. A sense of pride and home washed over him, something he hadn't felt in years._

_'I never thought I'd say this, but I love this place', thought Arashi._

_"It's beautiful isn't it, Arashi-kun?", said a tired Hiruzen Sarutobi, who appeared behind him a put a hand on his shoulder._

_'Holy shit! That scared the hell out of me!', thought Arashi with a surprised expression. For once he was glad he couldn't speak, swearing in front of the Hokage didn't sound like a good idea. He looked at the man who he most admired in the world, not only because he was a great man, but he was a powerful one too. Arashi admired the man, and any other Kage for that matter, because they could do something that he wished he always could have done, which was protect his home._

_He pulled out his little blackboard that he carried on his back, which allowed to communicate when he needed. He wrote a simple question: 'How can I protect all of this?'._

_The old man chuckled. Arashi didn't want to be Hokage. That was Naruto's dream. But he wanted to be as strong as one. He wanted to be able to protect the village that had took him in, and the people that lived in it._

_"Well Arashi-kun, the answer is quite simple. You just have to love.", answered the Hokage, as he looked and the sun setting over the horizon, leaving the sky a beautiful color of pink and orange._

_Arashi was confused to say the least. Noticing this, the old man continued._

_"Do you love the village?"_

_A simple question really. Arashi nodded immediately._

_"Then you're already protecting it. You see, when we love something, even if we don't want to, we will always do our best to protect it. The need to protect pushes us to get stronger, and by getting stronger, you're ultimately protecting what you love. This doesn't necessarily mean physical strength, but spiritual strength too. In other words, just keep loving the village, and I'm sure that you'll find yourself protecting it to the best of your ability."_

_In a weird kind of way, what he had just listened to made sense._

_He knew there wasn't a better place to get stronger than a Hidden Village, and he would take advantage of that. There was no way he was going to let anyone he loved be killed off again._

_After an hour of just thinking as he looked at the village, Arashi had his made up his mind: he was going to be a ninja._

_(Flashback end)_

Arashi filled out the form, and quickly handed it to the man who he knew was Naruto's Academy teacher. He must've been sent there to collect the admission papers from the new shinobi hopefuls that were attending the community school.

Iruka collected a single admission form that day. He was hoping that more civilian children would try and become shinobi, but that just didn't seem to be the case. In times of peace, kids would become less motivated to follow the dangerous career path. At least it was kind of a good sign.

'Arashi Kibo, huh? Kid definitely seems certain, he filled his form really quickly. I think Daikoku-san will have a really interesting batch this upcoming year.', thought Iruka as he respectfully bowed to the school teachers, and left.

* * *

**_Year 9 AK_**

**_16th September_**

The time had finally come. The first day of the Academy.

It had been a pretty stale summer, Arashi had spent most of his time cloud watching with Shikamaru and Choji. Shikamaru liked him because he was 'quiet and not troublesome', and he liked Shikamaru because he rarely had to write down anything to talk to him because he seemed to understand everything he was trying to say by just looking at him. Choji was just and enjoyable person to be around, since he was always happy.

Besides that, the only relevant thing that happened, was that his aunt and Kakashi had… started dating. He cringed a lot at the thought of Kakashi being his uncle. They weren't necessarily close, even with all the time they spent together, because Kakashi was more interested in his aunt. Well, at least he could protect her. If she had to date someone, at least have that someone be one of the strongest ninjas in the whole village.

That pretty much summed up the whole summer.

Arashi now stood in front of the Academy entrance. He had been told that today the only thing they were going to do was introduce themselves, then they would be lectured on what they would be doing throughout the years and what it meant to be a shinobi, then leave. He was wearing his signature high-collared white t-shirt, which now had a Konoha symbol in the back, baby blue shorts that now had white holsters attached, and standard black shinobi sandals. He remembered the day he bought the clothes fondly, he had got his first weapon kit and had upgraded his clothes. The girl who had helped was named Tenten, and she was two years his senior at the academy. She had been really nice to him, and she had even said if he ever needed a training partner, she was available.

Arashi found himself blushing at the memory, 'Girls are weird man'.

After a couple minutes of looking around inside, Arashi finally found the room he was supposed to. A couple of kids were already there, but he paid them no attention. He found an empty seat in the back, next to the window, just as he liked it. It was the most hidden seat in the whole classroom, making it the perfect place for afternoon naps. The window was to his left meaning he would only have classmates sitting to his right.

The classroom was mostly made of wood, and was built in a kind of auditorium style. The teacher stood in the front on top of a pedestal, and the seats in the back were higher than the seats in the front.

A few minutes went by, and the class was full. Arashi assumed that everyone was there. They were 21, he had counted. That made sense, since genin teams consist of three genin and one jonin.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a very large man entered the room. He was wearing the standard Konoha chunin outfit. He had short brown hair and a small goatee, which actually fit his round face well.

The room had gotten quiet in the man's presence, so he took this opportunity to speak.

"Hello everyone, my name is Daikoku Funeno, chunin of Konoha, and I will be your Academy teacher for the next five years. You may call me Daikoku-sensei. First, let's get introductions out of the way. When I call your name, stand up and respond with 'Here'.", the large man said as everyone nodded.

"Koichi Maita"

The boy next to Arashi stood up as he responded: "Here!". He was a tall and tan boy, he had undercut black hair and black eyes.

"Did you have to be so loud, Koichi?", the boy to Koichi's right grumbled.

"Yuu Kinoshita"

The boy had no more time to complain as he had to stand up himself: "Here sensei", he said in a calm way. This boy was rather short. He had dark skin, short black hair in a buzz cut, and green eyes.

"You always complain about everything Yuu, you're like an old man in a child's body.", Koichi said.

"Well, I have to put up with your dumbass every day, so sometimes you annoy me easily", Yuu retorted.

This went on for a while, and Arashi knew for a fact only his name was left.

"Arashi Kibo"

Arashi stood up, but never said 'Present' as the other kids were expecting. The teacher had already been informed of his condition by the Hokage, so he just nodded for the boy to sit down.

"Why didn't you say 'Here'? ", asked Koichi.

"He can't speak, idiot.", immediately said Yuu.

"How can you tell?"

"How many people have you ever seen walk with a mini blackboard on their back?", explained Yuu.

Koichi nodded in understanding. Arashi didn't really feel comfortable talking about this and didn't like the fact they had already found out he couldn't speak. This was one of the reasons he hadn't made friends in community school. Imagine Arashi's shock when he found himself being talked to.

"So, why did you join the Academy Arashi? Me and Yuu want to be in Anbu, and we're going to be the best dynamic duo this village had ever seen!", Koichi said, reminding Arashi of a certain blonde knucklehead.

'I want to get stronger; I want to be able to protect the village.', Arashi wrote.

The three of them ended up talking for a while, completely failing to listen to the introductory speech their sensei was giving. Daikoku noticed this but would allow it for today. He knew of Arashi's previous difficulties making friends, so he would allow the boy to create these bonds during class, even if it was only for today.

Nothing important was said during that class, just a speech about the 'Will of Fire', and the program of what they were going to be doing for the next five year.

In year one, they would just have theoretical classes and a strengthening and conditioning class.

In year two, they would replace the physical class with Taijutsu training and spars, Chakra control training, and weapons (shuriken and kunai) training.

By year three, they would add Ninjutsu training to the mix, and would be asked to learn the two fundamental academy jutsu: Clone jutsu and the Henge.

In year 4 ,they would start to learn how to detect and dispel Genjutsu. If you had progressed enough in Ninjutsu, you would have the option to learn the Kawarimi (Body Replacement Jutsu).

After that, things would pretty much remain the same way until graduation.

Arashi left the classroom with his two new friends, already liking the Academy much more than community school. It had taken him 10 minutes to do something he never could in his old school.

As he waved his two new friends goodbye, he headed home as happy as never, ready to tell his aunt about the amazing day he had.

* * *

**_Year 10 AK_**

**_24th June_**

The first Academy year was coming to an end. Arashi reflected on what had been some of the most amazing months of his life, as he looked out the window from his seat. He, Koichi and Yuu had all become great friends.

Koichi was a loud goofball, while Yuu was quieter and more reserved. Even though they had these different personality traits, the three boys had become inseparable, always hanging out even outside of school. Arashi learned that the other two boys lived together, as Yuu's parents had passed away when he was very young, and Koichi's family had taken him in.

At the end of year one, Arashi had had the best grades, Yuu had the second-best grades and Koichi… well he was more of a practical person anyway.

They had learned a lot about the history of Konoha, and all about the Great Ninja Wars. With most of the theoretical crap out of the way, they would now start 'actual' ninja training.

The three boys got out of school and were discussing their plans for the summer, until Arashi saw Kakashi.

'What's Kakashi doing here? He never comes pick me up from school.' thought Arashi. Kakashi motioned Arashi to come with him, to which the boy nodded and said goodbye to his friends.

Arashi stared at Kakashi with a blank expression, having no idea to what the man wanted.

"I know that I usually ignore in you, and I'm sorry." started Kakashi. "It's just that I have a hard time opening up and being friendly with people because of… let's just say past mistakes. I obviously love your aunt and I care about you too. I'll never be open about this again so we'll stop here ok?"

Arashi nodded. He wasn't sure if the man wanted a response, but he wrote 'You're not so bad after all' which got him a one-eyed smile.

"I'm glad you think that. Well, since this is a rare occasion, let me help you with something."

_~15 minutes later~_

Arashi now stood with Kakashi in an empty training ground. The silver-haired man had told the boy that he was going to show him something that would help him in the future as a shinobi.

"So, Arashi, do you see this tree?"

The boy nodded.

Kakashi the proceeded to literally walk up the tree, using only his feet.

Arashi was amazed, how great are shinobi? If they can walk up trees, what can't they do?

Kakashi then explained "You see Arashi, what I'm doing is directing my chakra to my feet, in a quantity that's big enough to allow me to stick to it, but small enough that it won't push me off. This is a chakra control exercise. The better your chakra control is, the less unnecessary chakra you waste on jutsu. I forgot to ask, can you even focus on your chakra yet?"

'Yes, I can. At school we've had to stick a leaf to our foreheads with chakra a couple of times.' Arashi wrote.

"Well then, you can start trying the exercise now, if you want." Kakashi suggested.

Arashi nodded and smiled excitedly, as he slowly made his way to the tree. He started off by closing his eyes, and just focusing his chakra to his feet. A few seconds later he opened his eyes, as he felt his feet 'stick' to the ground in an unusual way. He placed one foot on the tree, and felt it stick. Without breaking concentration, he placed his other foot on the tree, and was now successfully standing horizontally.

'Hey, this is actually pretty easy' Arashi thought. He then took one step, two steps…

_Thump_

'God dammit'

"Nice job Arashi, that was honestly pretty good for a first try. Most people don't learn how to tree-walk until they're genin, and even then they don't usually do as good on their first attempt." Kakashi said, genuinely impressed.

"You should practice this exercise as much as you can, it can be considered completed once you're able to run around on a vertical surface for an hour. As an Academy student who has just started grasping the concept of chakra, don't be frustrated if it takes about a year to complete this. By the way, since this is more advanced training, don't tell anyone in the academy about this, or even your friends. If they find out your able to do something like this they might make you graduate early, and trust me, it's better if you fully complete the academy." Kakashi added.

Arashi nodded in agreement, and even though he was sad about not being able to tell his friends about this, he was excited he would have an early start to his ninja training.

* * *

**_Year 10 AK_**

**_15th September_**

The Academy's second year started in a few days, but currently Arashi was focused on something else.

'…58….59…60!' the boy exclaimed in his head before falling to the ground, dropping from his bedroom ceiling, absolutely exhausted. After just about three months of trying, he had completed the tree-walking exercise. It had consumed all of his mornings throughout the summer, but it had paid off. Arashi found out that he actually had amazing chakra control when he had told Kakashi of his rapid progress.

Kakashi was proud of the boy, and had found it curious when, in a conversation about chakra, the boy actually said that he found that what really had allowed him to breakthrough in the exercise had been visualization. Arashi explained to Kakashi that even though he couldn't see chakra, imagining it had been the biggest difference maker in improving his chakra control. Kakashi wouldn't say it out loud as to not inflate Arashi's ego, but the boy showed a lot of potential as ninja. Completing the exercise as fast as he had, considering that he had almost no experience with chakra before, was nothing short of genius.

'What now?' wrote Arashi on his board. He then walked into his living room and showed it to Kakashi.

"Well, your Academy classes are almost starting again, so you won't have much time to work on this, but now you should move on to water walking. The concept of the exercise is pretty much the same, but the way water works you have to be constantly changing the amount of chakra your sending to your feet, which makes it ten times harder than walking on a flat surface. And that's it for extra skills your learning before your classmates. Hokage-sama has been pretty clear about this: no Academy student is to learn skills before perfecting the one's taught at the Academy, unless they're clan jutsu from the student's clan." Kakashi reminded Arashi.

Arashi frowned at this, it didn't seem fair that people from Ninja Clans could learn more jutsus than 'ordinary' students. He understood that by enabling people to learn jutsu as they pleased would defeat the purpose of the Academy, and that it would be dangerous. He also understood that also prohibiting Ninja Clan students would be almost not allowing them to follow their clan's tradition, but it still seemed unfair. But that's just the way the world was.

'That's it? You can't help me more?' Arashi wrote.

"I never said that. I'm more than willing to give you a few pointers and help you when you need, when I have the time. But the things I help you with can't be beyond what you're learning at the Academy." Kakashi answered

Arashi smiled and nodded in understanding. He was glad to know he would have help if he needed it. Him and Kakashi had grown closer over the summer, especially because of training. He had accepted the man as his uncle (even though he would never say it) and didn't mind when the idea of him and his aunt moving to Kakashi's house was thrown around. At this point, he was pretty sure that was something that was bound to happen.

He and Kakashi left his apartment and headed to Ichiraku's to have some lunch.

They both sat in the ramen booth and chatted with Haruki as they arrived. His aunt had seemed happier lately, like she was finally getting over what had happened to their family three years ago and was ready to begin another chapter in her life.

"Arashi! How have you been?"

Arashi turned around to see blonde hair that he recognized instantly.

'Hey Naruto! I've been great. The Academy has been a blast so far, I even made friends!' Arashi wrote.

Naruto smiled at his friend, but Arashi noticed it was a sad smile.

'Well, how have YOU been, Naruto?'

The blonde immediately cheered up.

"I've been amazing! You won't believe the prank I pulled the other day…"

Naruto then told Arashi of all the pranks he had pulled this year, new ideas for pranks, and talked to him about how he liked the beautiful 'Sakura-chan' and that he hated 'Sasuke-teme', who was always brooding and thought that he was better than everyone.

_~Two days later~_

Arashi's alarm went off. Another Academy year was starting. This year, they would start their 'practical' training. He quickly got dressed, had breakfast and was out the house in an instant.

He walked to the Academy, and when he reached the entrance he met up with Koichi and Yuu. The three boys had a different expression than the one they had last year. This year, they would start competing and would be ranked. The boys all shared a grin, as they thought the same: 'It's time to work'.

* * *

Author's note: Hope you enjoyed that, let me know what you think. I saw another author do this, so I'm not claiming this as my idea (shoutout to you sorry I don't remember your name), but I'm going to start asking a question to the reader at the end of each chapter.

**What's your favourite color?**

Mine's yellow. I never met anyone who likes it as much as me. Yellow is a fucking top notch color.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Welcome to chapter 3 everyone! Hope your week has been good. In this chapter I attempted to write a fighting scene for the first time, it didn't turn out that well. Hey, at least I'm doing my best. I also have to become better at writing dialogue, I feel at this point all my characters have similar personalities, so I'll do my best to change that. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**_Year 13 AK_**

**_23rd June_**

Arashi and Yuu stood face-to-face in a taijutsu spar, none of them moving. Arashi smirked at the boy in front of him. Since the ranking system had been implanted in their class, Yuu had ran away with first place. The boy was simply good at everything. He had no obvious weakness.

Arashi had the edge over Yuu in terms of speed, but everything else went to Yuu.

Yuu rushed suddenly and threw a punch, which Arashi easily side-stepped. Arashi had established himself as the fastest shinobi hopeful in the class, and had no problem dodging any of his classmate's strikes when he saw them coming.

Arashi used Yuu's momentum against him, as he threw a spinning kick at the boy's back. Unfortunately for Arashi, Yuu knew most of his moves, so he grabbed his leg and threw him.

Arashi landed safely but was pissed that he couldn't land the hit.

Yuu rushed him again, but this time threw a kick to Arashi's head. Arashi ducked, and retaliated with a quick punch to Yuu's jaw, that actually hit. The only problem was that Yuu didn't mind getting hit ny him, as long as he got to hit in return, his difference in pure strength being overwhelming. The boys traded a punch, resulting in Arashi being knocked down as the fight ended.

"Winner, Yuu Kinoshita." announced Daikoku.

Both boys shook hands after the fight and took a seat as the fights continued between their classmates. Today was the last day of their 4th year of Academy, meaning next year they would graduate. They had already done a written test in the morning, as well as a ninjutsu and projectile evaluation. By the end of the afternoon, they would know their year-end rankings.

Arashi was excited to be almost done with the Academy, he couldn't wait to be a genin. Not only would they do missions, but he would also be able to finally learn jutsu that would actually make him powerful.

Today was also the day his buddies Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji would (hopefully) graduate.

As Koichi won his fight against one of their classmates, the day was over. The class walked back inside, where in a couple of minutes they would know their rankings.

* * *

_~In the classroom~_

"Settle down everyone, I will now announce the rankings, so everyone be quiet" said Daikoku as he walked in the room. A slight tension could be felt in the room. Even though these rankings weren't definitive, they would most certainly not change that much in a year.

"In first place, Yuu Kinoshita"

Yuu smirked at the not so surprising information.

"In second place, Arashi Kido"

Arashi was stunned, he had finally moved up to second place after being behind Keiko Uzuki (Yugao Uzuki's little sister) for so long. The purple-haired girl had very good Taijutsu and weapon skills and had been in second place for as long as there had been rankings. Arashi briefly looked at her, only to rapidly look away when he was met with a death stare.

…

"In seventh place, Koichi Maita"

"LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO" yelled Koichi, feeling happy he had finally cracked top ten. Koichi wasn't bad, it was just that his written tests were… awful. He had the worst grades, and that had set him back from ever being well ranked among the class. He never lost in Taijutsu unless it was against Arashi or Yuu, and even then, he would sometimes beat them, but his tests messed up his ranking.

"In eight place, …"

After the rankings were said, class was dismissed, and everyone went their way. Arashi stopped on the way out to look at the names of the people that had graduated.

'This Sasuke guy ended up getting rookie of the year, huh? As the last Uchiha, he sure his making a name for himself. Let's see who else is on here… so, Shikamaru did it… Oh, and Choji too… but where's Naruto's name?'

Arashi looked and looked, until he finally came to the conclusion that the boy hadn't been able to graduate.

'I wonder how he's doing… his dream is to be Hokage for god's sake. I hope he isn't feeling too down, after all he can always stay for another year and graduate with us!' Arashi thought.

_~The next day~_

Arashi was stunned at the news he was hearing over breakfast. Kakashi was telling him that his friend Naruto had graduated after all, under 'special circumstances', that he wasn't allowed to tell Arashi. The boy decided not to think about it too much, as he was just happy his first friend was now one step closer to achieving his dream.

"Hey Arashi, I know this is unusual but, can I ask you something?" started Kakashi.

Arashi just motioned him to go ahead.

"You know how me and your aunt have been arguing a bit lately?" Arashi nodded, remembering the full on discussion he had heard from his room last night "Well, I have been offered a job as a jonin-sensei, which means less danger, more time at home, and about the same pay, but I'm not really sure that I can do it… Your aunt has been begging me to take that job, but I just don't know what to do. What do you think?"

'I just want you to do whatever will make my auntie happy' wrote Arashi.

Kakashi sighed as he had predicted that would be the answer. He guessed being a sensei wouldn't be that bad, and at least he got to spend more time with Haruki.

* * *

**_Year 13 AK_**

**_18th September_**

Finally, the last year of the Academy had started. Kakashi had ended up as Naruto's sensei, which had been a rather unexpected turn of events. He also had rookie of the year Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto's precious 'Sakura-chan' on his team. They had just returned about a week ago from a C-ranked mission that had… escalated to say the least. They had encountered and fought rogue ninjas, and the whole thing had been a mess. Luckily, everything had turned out okay.

Everyone slowly arrived at the very familiar classroom, and students began going to their usual seats one by one. Their class had received a few students who had failed their genin exams last year and wanted to try again.

Over the summer, Arashi had gotten a bit stronger. He had more than mastered the Academy jutsu and had begun working on his strength. It wouldn't do him any good to be the fastest in class if he couldn't cause any damage. He had also begun reading about great shinobi, especially those who were well documented. He idolized the Fourth Hokage and was now beginning to take interest in a not-so well-known ninja called Shisui Uchiha. It was something about being faster than your opponents that just pleased Arashi. He was now sort-of able to enhance his body with chakra to amplify his physical abilities. He already had really good chakra control, just below what the average chunin had, but he wanted to be absolutely amazing at it.

He didn't feel like he needed to improve anymore to graduate, but ever since Kakashi had been assigned a team, he wasn't improving much, which frustrated him. As his sensei walked in the room, Arashi focused, and just hoped this year would go by fast so he could start getting stronger.

* * *

**_Year 14 AK_**

**_3rd January_**

Today was a busy day in Konoha. It was not every year that the Chunin Exams were held there. The third part of the exams, the tournament, was being held today in the village's main stadium. After a normal boring day at the Academy, Arashi, Yuu and Koichi decided to go watch the tournament in the afternoon, after their classes. Not only were some of their rookie genin friends in it, but they also wanted to compare their skill level to the chunin hopefuls.

At around 3pm the tournament started, with the first fight being Naruto vs Neji. Arashi was glad to see Naruto pull off the upset, not that he ever doubted him, willpower really was the difference in some fights.

After an interesting Shikamaru vs Temari fight, and a couple of withdrawals, it was time for the main event of the second round: Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara, a supposedly unbeatable shinobi of Sunagakure.

As the fight started, Sasuke immediately went on the offensive with an amazing display of speed and taijutsu.

'So awesome…' Arashi thought.

"It really does put things in perspective, doesn't it? Even if we're the best in our class, we ain't shit against these guys, and they haven't even been genin for 6 months." Yuu said, to which Arashi nodded in agreement.

"I don't think they're that strong, I bet that once we're genin we'll surpass them in no time!" exclaimed Koichi. Yuu and Arashi just looked at him.

"Fuck you guys, I'm sorry if I believe in our capabilities"

"It's not that we don't believe in ourselves, it's just that both these guys are considered geniuses in their own right, we just might never be able to reach their level at all." Yuu explained.

As if on cue, Gaara surrounded himself with a sphere of sand, after being punched around by Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked, and proceeded to run up the wall of the stadium. He then started charging lightning chakra in his left hand, and created a lighting jutsu that sounded like birds chirping. The jutsu was obviously very deadly, as it began to ruin the stadium wall just by Sasuke being still.

"Still think they're not that much stronger than us?" Yuu teased.

"…"

Sasuke rushed Gaara, with Chidori in hand, and actually managed to get past Gaara's defense and hurt him.

The sand shinobi started freaking out, and began to… transform into a monster. 'What the hell's going on? Is this even allowed?' Arashi thought.

In that moment, a bunch of white feathers began falling from the sky and Arashi started feeling sleepy.

'Genjutsu.' he quickly realized. After almost instinctively dispelling it, the tan-haired boy woke Koichi and Yuu, by sending a chakra pulse into their system.

"I can't believe I fell for that" Yuu said angrily, as he and Koichi got up.

Looking around, the boys started to realize what was going on: Konoha was being invaded. Remembering the procedures, the boys immediately looked for a chunin, but couldn't find one. Fights were going on all around them, and they ran into a couple of ninja who had already been slaughtered as they exited the stadium.

"Maybe we should just hide? I mean there's no way we can actually do something against full fledged ninja." Koichi suggested.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, it's what we should do." Koichi agreed after some hard thinking. In this type of situation, it was usually him who assumed command between the three boys, as he was the wisest of the group.

As they found a suitable building to hide in, they were met with an unexpected situation. A genin from one of the Suna teams that didn't make it past the first round, stumbled upon them.

"Well what do we have here? They gave us order to kill any Konoha ninja, I bet they wouldn't mind a few ninjas in the making" the genin from Suna smiled sickly. He didn't even care that he hadn't gotten far in the exam, the whole point of coming to Konoha was to invade it. And now, he had a few kids to blow some steam off on.

Without a word exchanged, the three boys set up a formation, and pulled out their kunais. Koichi and Arashi at the front, who had an easier time dodging, and Yuu at the back, to deliver heavy blows.

The genin moved too quick for Koichi to react and managed to stab him in the arm with a kunai. This came at the cost of receiving a kick to the face, as Koichi retaliated. AS he wiped some blood off his mouth, the Suna soldier went to pull out another kunai, but his arm was grabbed by Arashi. He managed to push the weaker boy off, but the time gained by this action was enough for Yuu to be able to land one of his powerful punches to the genin's jaw.

The genin hit the floor and Arashi was quickly on him. He kicked his opponent in the head, only for his body to turn into sand. He felt the genin behind him, and was stabbed in the back. The Suna shinobi smiled, but his expression turned to a shocked one when Arashi turned into a log. The academy jutsus were useful after all, even if only against this level of competition.

This moment of shock allowed Yuu to land yet another hit, this time to the genin's stomach, which laid him out.

The invading shinobi tried to get up, but his head was quickly grabbed, and his throat was slashed by Arashi, who had done it almost instinctively.

Arashi had never killed before. In the moment, it didn't feel like anything. The boys grabbed an injured Koichi, and made their way to a the building they were going to hide in initially. Finally realizing what he had done, Arashi started to tremble, and vomited. Koichi looked at Yuu as if they had to say something, but Yuu just shook his head. There was nothing they could do to help their friend in this situation, he had to find a way to cope with this by himself.

Arashi's mind was a mess, but he was able to calm himself down after a few minutes. This was going to be his life when he graduated. It was either kill or be killed as a ninja. He needed to kill if he wanted to succeed, he needed to kill if he wanted to be strong. But still someone had lived, learned, loved and worked just for everything to end by his end. It as fucked up. The concept was really hard to grasp.

_~A few hours later~_

The boys had stayed inside the building for the rest of the invasion. They eventually were found by a beautiful dark-haired jonin kunoichi named Kurenai.

"Are you guys alright?" asked Kurenai as she had noticed the dead enemy next to the building. The area hadn't been an active fight zone, so she assumed one of the boys had killed him.

"Yes, we're fine for the most part. Koichi here has a stab wound in his arm, he should go to the hospital." Yuu responded.

"Well then Koichi, please come with me. The two of you should go to the academy to meet with your guardians, that is the meeting point for villagers who were hidden during the invasion."

Arashi and Yuu nodded and made their way to the Academy. The trip took a few minutes, and no words had been exchanged during it. Yuu understood that it was a traumatic experience to kill, even if it had been out of instinct. He gave Arashi some space and let the boy deal with it himself, there really wasn't much he could do.

_~At the Academy~_

"Arashi!" yelled Haruki as she ran to her nephew.

"I'm so glad you're okay! What happened to you? Academy students are also supposed to go to the hidden safe zones you know!" the woman scolded.

'We were attacked by a ninja. We killed him and then hid. That's it.' wrote Arashi.

His aunt looked uncertain of what to do for a moment, but then ended up hugging the boy. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to take a life, especially when killing has taken so much from you.

"Haruki, Arashi!" Kakashi said as he appeared beside them, noticing that the look in the boys eyes had changed. He knew that look. It was the look of someone whose innocence had been taken away. He was going to have to talk to him about killing later, and how he had protected the village.

* * *

**_14 AK_**

**_19th June_**

The past six months had been rough for Arashi. He figured that was just the way life was. The Third Hokage had been badly injured in his fight against Orochimaru, who had infiltrated the village as the Kazekage and planned the whole invasion, which meant that he was forced to pass the title of Hokage to someone else. He was tuck to a wheelchair for a while, and while he had recovered, he felt he had become too old to lead and be the village's primary protector. Tsunade, one of the three Sannin, and the world's greatest medic ninja, had been appointed as the new Hokage, and was retrieved by Jiraiya and Naruto.

She had taken over in February, and things went well for a couple of weeks.

At the beginning of March, Sasuke, Naruto's teammate, had left the village to go get training from Orochimaru, the man who had attempted to destroy the village just three months earlier.

This left Naruto feeling sad, as he had lost one of, if not his best friend, and he swore to take him back to the village. In order to achieve this, Naruto had left the village in the beginning of June on a four-year training trip, so that he could not only get stronger, but also so he could protect himself against the Akatsuki, a mercenary ninja organization that was collecting all the tailed-beasts, Kakashi told Arashi.

'What a fucking mess.' Arashi thought. He was of the opinion that the last Sasuke was a selfish prick who was willing to put a whole village in danger just to achieve his goals. He was dumbfounded to learn that Naruto was a jinchuriki, but that also explained a lot about the villagers' behavior towards him. He honestly didn't care, if the Fourth Hokage was as amazing as everyone said, how could they hate the boy? To him it just meant they doubted the Fourth's handywork.

He had successfully graduated the Academy alongside most of his classmates (some of them either gave up along the way or just didn't pass), including Koichi and Yuu. Yuu had managed to graduate as rookie of the year, and was considered a genius among his peers. He had started to use what could only be described as a big-ass hammer, and he was becoming great at wielding it. It was also made of a chakra-conductive metal, meaning that when he learned elemental manipulation, he would be able to conduct chakra of his element through the hammer.

Keiko Uzuki had been Kunoichi of the year and was able to reclaim second place overall in the rankings over Arashi. He didn't mind this, as he figured that most of his potential would begin to develop once he was actually a genin, or at least he hoped so.

Today they would be assigned to a team, and later in the week would have a meeting to Hokage before being able to take missions, which was more of a formality just to meet their leader if they hadn't already.

Arashi wore a white T-shirt with a light-blue leaf symbol in the back. He had his hitai-ate around his neck, so that it would hide his neck scar. He had light-blue shinobi pants on and black sandals.

As Daikoku-sensei walked in the room, he looked around and smiled proudly at the class. The past five years had gone by fast, and everyone had grown so much.

"Well everyone, I can't say anything besides that I'm proud of you. You're one of the more promising graduation classes I've ever seen, and I'm not saying this just because you were my students. Each and every one of you has the potential to be great, and I know you'll make me proud. I'm going to start announcing the teams then." Daikoku then started naming teams and telling the who their jonin-sensei was.

Arashi hoped he would be placed on the same team as Koichi and Yuu, but this seemed unlikely, as he and Yuu were really close in the rankings. He assumed Koichi would be placed with Yuu, as the boys lived together and were basically brothers.

"Team 11 will be: Yuu Kinoshita, Koichi Maita and Keiko Uzuki. Your jonin-sensei will be Hoheto Hyuga."

Arashi was bummed at this but was also kind of expecting it. He looked at his two friends with a smile, this wasn't the end of the world. They could still hang out, and once they made chunin they would probably go on a few missions together anyway. Everyone was mumbling about how unfair that team was, as the two best prospects in the class were put together, and they got Koichi who had loads of potential as well. Arashi was excited to compete against their team in the future, it will be fun to see which team will become stronger.

…

"Team 14 will be: Arashi Kibo, Kaede Yoshino (AN: I know that in the anime she is Konohamaru's age, but in this fic she was born the same year as Arashi) and Michio Chiba. Your jonin-sensei will be Shizune Kato."

Arashi looked at his future teammates.

Michio Chiba was an older student. He had to repeat his last academy year because he failed to graduate the prior year. He was tall and chubby, and had long, curly brown hair, and brown eyes. He was usually happy and laughing along with the other students that ha been held back. He seemed like a nice guy.

Kaede was a quite popular girl in his class, but it seemed that the boys liked her a lot because of her nice personality. She had fair skin, long, teal-colored hair, tied back a few inches above the end in a ponytail, and her eyes were the same color as her hair. Unlike Michio, Arashi had never interacted with Kaede before, but that was mostly due to his inability to speak.

After the teams were set, they were told to go meet their jonin sensei in the classroom that shared their team's number.

The newly assigned Team 14 made their way to the before mentioned room, making only small talk along the way. They had been the only team in which the three genin weren't really friends.

_~In Classroom 14~_

Shizune had never taught anything. In fact, she had wanted to remain as Tsunade's assistant, but the Sannin insisted that she had to do this to contribute to the village. Tsunade told her that it would be a waste of talent for a jonin with her capabilities to be stuck being an assistant.

Sighing, the woman took a look at the files of her students, or would-be students if they passed her test. They had been written by the students' academy sensei, and was the most accurate report she could get.

Name: Michio Chiba

Age: 13

Birthday: 5th November

Height: 162cm

Weight: 60 Kg

Class rank: Ranked 15th out of 18 graduates.

Skills breakdown: Very raw shinobi. Doesn't excel at particularly anything. His best attribute is taijutsu, due to his strength. Needs to work on speed and genjutsu. Ninjutsu talent needs to be evaluated by the jonin sensei. Has average chakra reserves, and average control. Not very intelligent, but quite enough to succeed as a shinobi.

Personality: He is very friendly and easy to get along with. He's very obedient and isn't meant to lead a team.

Name: Kaede Yoshino

Age: 12

Birthday: 24th July

Height: 149cm

Weight: 40 Kg

Class rank: Ranked 7th out of 18 graduates.

Skills breakdown: Excels at chakra control because of her small reserves. Not very gifted at neither taijutsu nor ninjutsu. Has great potential in genjutsu and medical ninjutsu. Needs to work on increasing her chakra reserves and taijutsu. Ninjutsu potential is low due to her limited chakra reserves. Is very intelligent and is good at planning in advance.

Personality: She's nice, but quite reserved. She thinks before she speaks and has good leadership skills.

Name: Arashi Kibo

Age: 12

Birthday: 14th September

Height: 153cm

Weight: 43 Kg

Class rank: Ranked 3rd out of 18 graduates.

Skills breakdown: Very all-around shinobi. Has the best chakra control and is the fastest in this class. His chakra reserves are average. Gifted in both taijutsu and ninjutsu. Needs to work on his genjutsu and strength. Is very smart and creative, being capable of thinking of things on the spot and also of planning. Has a lot of potential.

Personality: Being unable to speak since a very young age makes it hard to gauge his personality. Seems stoic sometimes, but other times plays around too much.

Shizune read the files attentively but didn't make anything of what she had read. At the end of the day, this only told her about what they were capable of right now, and not what they could develop into with training.

As if on cue, she heard someone knock at the door.

"Come in." Shizune said smiling at the three students.

"My name is Shizune Kato, and I'm your jonin sensei. Let's start with a quick introduction. Tell me your likes, dislikes and dreams. I'll start. My name is Shizune, I like Tonton, Tsunade-sama and flowers. I dislike people who run from their past. My dream is to succeed Tsunade-sama as the best medic-nin in Konoha." Shizune then motioned Ken to start.

"Hello! My name is Michio Chiba! I like eating and going to the movies. I dislike… I don't dislike anything right now. My dream is to become a successful shinobi and retire early so that I can enjoy life!" an excited Ken revealed.

Shizune then looked to Kaede as a go-ahead sign.

"Hi, my name is Kaede Yoshino. I like clovers and reading. I dislike boys who are always bothering me and fake people. My dream is to become a great medic-nin."

Everyone then looked at Arashi. Sighing, he then took out his blackboard. 'Arashi Kibo, I like my friends and sleeping, dislike traitors and selfish people, my dream is to be able to protect everyone I want' wrote Arashi. It was barely understandable, since he had to fit all this information in a small blackboard.

Shizune didn't like the fact he couldn't speak, in the ninja world, especially when working in teams, this was a huge disadvantage. She would she if she could do something about it later.

"Well then team, now that that's out the way, meet me in training ground 14 tomorrow at 10 AM for your real test." Stated Shizune

"But sensei, what do you mean 'real test'?" Kaede asked.

"Contrary to what you think, graduating from the academy doesn't necessarily mean that you become genin. Only about 33% of academy graduates become ninja, the rest either continue school, studying for something else, or go back to the academy. If you pass your test tomorrow, you're officially genin." answered Shizune.

* * *

Author's note: As always let me know what you think, I'm open to suggestions and constructive criticism, it's the only way I'll improve. Also, I'm starting college next week, but I'll try to update weekly, only difference will probably that I'll write shorter chapters, but I'll still make them at least 3000 words.

_This week's question:_

**Who's your favourite singer/rapper/musician/band?**

I personally love Logic. Even though he's been on the decline since he dropped Everybody, his old mixtapes are great. Used to listen to him all the time back in the good ol' days.

_Answering reviews (I'll try to reply to everyone, it isn't a problem right now but I hope it becomes one in the future):_

**Uchiha Arashi:** Thank you for being my first review! Even though I like yellow the best, my top three is the same as yours.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Hey guys! Welcome to Chapter Four! In this chapter I attempted to write dialogue to get a feel for the characters' personalities, but I still haven't gotten in down. Either way, I have some important things to say after the chapter, please make sure you read them. As always, I'm sorry for any mistakes. Enjoy!

* * *

Right after team meetings, Arashi went to meet with Koichi and Yuu. The three boys had agreed to have lunch at a dango shop together that day.

As they met up and entered the restaurant, Arashi quickly realized that the relationship the three had wouldn't change because of their placement, they would always have each others' back.

'So, Yuu, what do you think it will be like to have Keiko-san on your team?' wrote Arashi as the boys began to eat.

"Honestly, a pain in the ass. She's so focused on surpassing her sister and making her proud that she doesn't care about others." sighed Yuu.

"We should give her a chance Yuu. Maybe she's not that bad." argued Koichi.

"I never said I wouldn't give her a chance idiot. As much of a pain as she is, at least she's competent, unlike someone else on my team." teased Yuu.

"Fuck you!" an offended Koichi responded.

'She might try to but heads with you though, Yuu. You were the only one in our class ahead of her in the rankings.' Arashi wrote getting back on topic.

"Yeah, that's my only concern. I consider myself a good leader, I don't really need anyone trying to take that role away from me." Yuu answered.

"Well, if she's going to take any of your roles, she should take your role of being an asshole." after a moment of silence, the three boys laughed at Koichi's comment.

After the laughter died down, Arashi wrote 'At least you guys have each other on your squad. I barely know mine.'

"You got Michio and Kaede-san on your team, right?" asked Koichi, to which Arashi nodded.

"They're not so bad. I bet Koichi here would kill to be on a team with Kaede-san." stated a smirking Yuu.

"You're so annoying Yuu! I just said she was cute once! Either way, all the boys in our class are after her, so it wouldn't matter anyway." yelled a blushing Koichi.

'You're in luck then Koichi. Kaede-san said she disliked boys who bothered her, so you're above 90% of the boys in our class in her books.' concluded Arashi.

"Really?" asked a hopeful Koichi.

"So you do like her, huh?" teased Yuu once again. Koichi became embarrassed, much to the other two boys amusement.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but don't worry about it too much. She'll probably go for Arashi since they're on the same team" Yuu continued.

'Yeah and I'm not denying any advances either, just saying' added Arashi with a smirk.

"... Are you serious?" worried Koichi

"No" was the answer he got, as they shared a chuckle.

"Enough of that. What about your other teammate?" questioned Koichi, changing the subject.

'He doesn't seem like much. From the interactions we had in the academy he seems nice enough, although he does seem a little unreliable.' responded Arashi truthfully.

"Michio was one of the worst students, and he was repeating his last year. No wonder you think he'll be unreliable." snorted Yuu.

"You never know if he's got potential, my dad told me that having some difficulties in the academy didn't mean a thing when you were considering someone's potential as a shinobi." said Koichi.

'I guess you're right. I'll just go with the flow and see what happens.' wrote Arashi.

"Koichi, you sure your dad didn't just tell you that because of your academy skills, Mr. Second to last?"

"Yuu, you're so fucking annoying!"

The three boys laughed as they finished their meals.

* * *

**_14 AK_**

**_20th June_**

Arashi woke up and started his routine. After finishing his breakfast, he got dressed in his usual clothes, and left his home. He and his teammates had agreed that they would meet at the training 15 minutes before what their sensei had told them.

Arashi arrived a few minutes earlier than they had agreed, so that he could look around the training ground.

Training ground 14 was located in the outskirts of the village. It had a lot of threes at the entrance, but once you went deep into it, you could find a clearing with a small lake, being fed water by a waterfall. It was beautiful and quiet.

A few minutes later, both Kaede and Michio arrived at the training ground.

Michio was wearing a red jacket with the leaf symbol on the back and wore black pants with black shinobi boots. Kaede was wearing a midnight blue short-sleeved hoodie, dark gray pants and sandals.

"Good morning!" they both said in unison, getting a polite nod from Arashi.

"Wow, I know we'll just be training here but this place is really pretty." said Kaede.

"Yeah, it really is something else." added Michio.

"So… what do you guys think the test will be about?" asked Michio after a few awkward seconds of silence.

'I don't know, it might be a mix of individual skill and team chemistry.' wrote Arashi.

"That would make sense, but haven't we already passed the tests that determined if our skill was sufficient? I mean, they wouldn't even allow to come this far if they thought he weren't ready." supposed Kaede.

"That does make sense, so in that case, we've just got to work together right?" wondered Michio.

'Probably' wrote Arashi.

"Let's devise a plan then." stated Kaede as the other two boys agreed. After a few minutes they had come up with something which they felt could work. With a few spare minutes till the test began, Kaede thought she would break the silence.

"Arashi-kun, do you mind if I ask you something?" asked the girl shyly.

Arashi raised an eyebrow 'No, go ahead.' he wrote.

"Can you tell us what happened that left you mute?"

Arashi stiffened at the question.

'No.' was his answer.

"I was just trying to be nice, you don't need to be rude about it." frowned Kaede.

'I wasn't rude, I just won't answer that question.' was his reply.

"Hey guys, let's just try and get along. The better we get along the better we will perform." suggested Michio.

Arashi sighed at the statement, and sat down next to a tree, and waited patiently for the test to begin.

As soon as the clock hit 10, Shizune appeared on the clearing beside them.

"Good morning dearest students, I hope your ready for your test." smirked Shizune.

"Good morning sensei." they replied.

"I'm going to get straight to the point: You have 30 minutes to land a hit on me" Shizune said as she set up an alarm "Come at me with the intent to kill. If you don't do so, you have zero chance of passing." she added.

"3…2…1…GO!"

Normally in this kind of situations the genin would hide, as they found a sneak attack a better idea. But as a shinobi, you have to expect the unexpected. As soon as the test started, the three genin rushed their sensei. Michio was the first to attack, throwing a punch at Shizune's face, only to be thrown over the shoulder as Shizune reacted fast. Even though she was a medic-nin, she was a jonin for a reason. She was a good taijutsu user, even for a jonin, and had years of experience. Immediately after Michio's attack, Kaede went in for a kick. Shizune easily blocked it, or would've, had she not been a clone.

Shizune reacted on instinct and dodged a punch from the real Kaede, who had come from behind her. She then pushed the girl back with a decent amount of strength, sending her flying.

Arashi came flying in and started an all-around attack with kicks, punches and attempts at holds. In terms of speed, he wasn't fairing that badly, but he lacked the strength and technique to match Shizune. After a few exchanged blows, Shizune managed to land a punch to the boy's stomach, only for him to turn into a log.

Looking around, Shizune realized that the genin had used this non-stop attack to make her focus on her immediate surroundings, allowing them to go into hiding. She smiled, that had actually been a really good strategy.

'We really did underestimate the skill of a jonin… Not even with a planned attack were we able to land a single hit.' frowned Arashi. They would have to come up with a better plan.

The three genin hopefuls met up in the surrounding forest as they had agreed, hoping to come up with something.

"Any ideas?" asked Kaede.

"I think that if we rush in at the same time she won't be able to block all of our strikes" suggested Michio.

"She probably will though. You saw how easily she handled our attack. Rushing in would be stupid" responded Kaede.

"At least I suggested something, are you going to deny every plan and then continue to be useless?" snapped Michio.

"You're calling ME useless? You weren't even able to cause any difficulties to sensei, and you've had an extra year to prepare" answered Kaede angrily.

'Team chemistry is off the charts' thought Arashi as he snorted.

His two teammates kept bickering and arguing. Sighing, Arashi began to think of a plan. 'What can we do? We clearly won't hit her using taijutsu only, none of us know any genjutsu that would work, and we only know ninjutsu taught at the academy…' he pondered.

He remembered a time when Kakashi had told him that jutsu were only as useful as we made him. That led him to a realization.

After a couple of minutes, Arashi turned to his two teammates, who by this point were ready to fight each other, and clapped to get their attention.

He started writing his plan on his blackboard and showed it to them.

"It's a good plan, I've never seen anyone use that jutsu that way before. Are you sure you can do it?" asked a concerned Kaede.

'It will require a lot of concentration, but I think I can do it' wrote Arashi as a reply.

"If you pull this off, we're sure to get a hit" assumed Michio.

"Let's go then."

_~Back in the clearing~_

It hadn't taken long for Shizune to find their students in the woods. She had remained in the clearing hoping that they would attack her again. She had been disappointed that Kaede and Michio had fought, but at least they seemed to stop when Arashi intervened. 'He'll have to be the mediator between those two in the future.' thought Shizune.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming out of the forest.

She turned to see the three teammates running in her direction. The three of them engaged in a taijutsu battle with her but were pushed back fairly easily.

"I hope that you weren't planning for 15 minutes just for that" teased Shizune.

Without responding, Kaede and Michio proceeded to throw all the kunai and shuriken they had as fast as they could towards Shizune.

Shizune threw back her own shuriken and kunai to block the incoming attack. She eventually ran out, but only one more shuriken was headed towards her.

'I might as well catch it' Shizune considered.

Just as she was about to catch it, Arashi used substitution jutsu to switch places with the shuriken, appearing out of nowhere in front of Shizune.

He quickly threw a punch, and it landed as he hit his now future sensei in the stomach.

There was a moment of silence as Arashi stood in the clearing, panting, and their sensei stood a few feet from him, a shocked expression on her face.

The three genin immediately cheered, they had just passed the test!

Shizune could do nothing but smile. 'What a creative twist to the substitution technique! It's a mere E-rank jutsu, but if used like you might as well consider it B-rank.' mused Shizune.

"That was so cool, I can't believe we actually did it!" yelled Michio excitedly.

"Yeah and it's mostly thanks to you, Arashi" Kaede said as she gave him a smile.

Arashi smiled and blushed at the comments of his teammates, as he bowed as a thank you.

"Well Kaede, Arashi and Michio, the three of you are now officially genin of Konoha!" congratulated Shizune. "We're now officially team 14. Meet me at the Hokage Tower tomorrow at 9:30 AM, so I can introduce you to Hokage-sama and so we can get our first mission. You're dismissed for now."

'I think I might've found something… It sure used up a lot of my chakra, that might be because I didn't use it on a stationary object. I wonder on what else I can use this jutsu?' pondered Arashi.

"I'm starving!" stated Michio as Arashi's thoughts were interrupted.

"Yeah me too, I couldn't even eat properly this morning because of my nerves" added Kaede.

'We should go have lunch together. I know a great place.' wrote Arashi as he smiled.

His two teammates agreed, they were all in silent agreement that they didn't really get along, and they should change that. That made Arashi decide that taking them to Ichiraku's, a place where he had spent time with all his friends, was the right place for the occasion.

As they arrived Arashi greeted the familiar faces at the venue.

"Arashi! How are you my boy? If you're looking for sister isn't here, she went to the market to get supplies." Teuchi, the owner/chef said.

'Thanks old man, but we're here to have lunch. These are my teammates, Kaede and Michio' wrote Arashi.

"Alright then. What will you have?"

'I'll have miso ramen'

"Make that two"

"Actually, make that three"

The three genin shared a smile. It looked like they had somethings in common after all.

"I can't wait to start learning medical jutsus" began Kaede as a way to break the silence.

"Yeah, it'll be great to finally be a shinobi" said Michio as everyone got their ramen.

'Don't take this the wrong way Michio, but you don't sound very ambitious' wrote Arashi.

"That's because I'm not. I want to earn some money and retire as soon as I can" he answered.

'You shouldn't be a shinobi then' was all Arashi wrote as an answer.

"I agree with him Michio, you should want to protect people and serve your village" added Kaede.

"I didn't say I didn't want to do that. I just aim to do it at a smaller scale than you guys" cleared Michio.

Arashi sighed at this information. He couldn't disagree with the boy, everyone had a reason to be a ninja. Just because his was different, it didn't mean it was wrong.

"At least try to keep up with us until we make chunin and go our separate ways" teased Kaede.

"I'll do my best" promised the chubby boy.

'If we're lucky we'll make chunin quickly, we got a great sensei who'll make sure we improve. At least that's what Kakashi says' intervened Arashi.

"Kakashi? As in the legendary copy-ninja Kakashi?" asked an incredulous Kaede, to which Arashi nodded.

"How do you know him?" she continued.

'He's my aunt's boyfriend' wrote the tan-haired boy.

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Michio.

'He really isn't that cool. He usually is just quiet and reads porn all the time. How my auntie ever got infatuated with him is beyond me' Arashi wrote.

"Well, he IS one of Konoha's most powerful ninja" tried to explain Kaede.

'Oh? So you like powerful men heh, Kaede-san?' teased Arashi via blackboard.

Kaede then blushed.

"I… N-o… It'-s.. no-o.." she managed to get out. She wasn't really used to being teased like that.

"I think it's a yes Arashi" Michio stated with a mischievous grin.

"You're both JERKS!" she exclaimed, making the boys laugh. Even though she was pissed at the moment, Kaede was really glad that her teammates weren't just fanboys who would do everything she wanted.

After the laughter died down, Michio asked "Wait, so has he trained you at all Arashi?"

'Yeah, but nothing too crazy as he didn't want me to advance too fast. I do know how to water-walk though' the mute boy wrote.

"What do you mean? Can you literally walk on water?" questioned Kaede.

Arashi just nodded. I mean, having learned what they had in the academy, was that so hard to believe?

A couple minutes of conversation later, the three genin said their goodbyes and left. Arashi was happy that the lunch had been successful in making them more comfortable with each other and improved their relationship in general. This was a necessary improvement if they wanted to be better as a team.

* * *

**_14 AK_**

**_21st June_**

Shizune and the three new genin waited outside of Tsunade's office. They were nervous to meet their new Hokage for the first time, but they were also excited to start doing missions.

"You may come in" said the Hokage's new assistant as she signaled them to come in.

They all went in the room and looked surprised.

"Isn't she supposed to be old?" whispered Michio.

"She's as old as the other Sannin, but she looks beautiful" answered Kaede as the three genin looked at the Fifth Hokage.

"So these are your students, huh Shizune? They don't look like much to me" teased Tsunade as the genin looked visibly upset.

"Yes Tsunade-sama, I'm very confident in them, I think they have a lot of potential" responded Shizune.

"Well then brats, you're officially Team 14 of Konoha. As of tomorrow you'll be able to take missions. I hope you give it your all to serve and protect this village. Also, don't forget to protect each other, and remember that we're all like a big family, so don't be afraid to ask for help whenever you need." pronounced Tsunade.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" answered the Kaede and Michio, and Arashi just bowed with them.

"Kaede and Michio, you're dismissed. Shizune and Arashi, please stay for an extra word" ordered Tsunade.

After Kaede and Michio left, Tsunade motioned for Arashi to come near her.

"I've heard you can't speak brat, is that correct?" asked Tsunade.

'No, I can't, I was injured when I was young. Also don't call me a brat, you old hag' wrote Arashi.

Shizune gasped at the boy's lack of respect towards the Sannin, many men had been destroyed for less. Tsunade put her fingers on the bridge and sighed. 'Just what I needed, another disrespectful kid to piss me off' she thought.

"Look kid, Shizune told me about your situation" Arashi looked at Shizune who gave him a warm smile "and so I went ahead and looked at your medical file. From what I understood, your situation isn't completely hopeless. Let me have a look at your neck" she said.

Arashi just nodded, and slowly removed his hitai-ate from around his neck. Both Shizune and Tsunade looked in mild disgust to the nasty horizontal scar on the boys neck. Without much interaction, Tsunade started doing a diagnosis on the boys throat, as her hands glowed green.

After a couple of minutes, she started: "So brat, I have good news and bad news." As Arashi looked up at her she continued "The good news is that we can fix your throat, you will be able to talk again. The bad news is that you will need multiple surgeries, and it will be very painful to even say anything for a while. Taking in consideration the time needed for you to recover between surgeries, they should be over in five to six months. Then at least six months for rehabbing and relearning how to speak."

In an instant, Arashi wrapped his arms around Tsunade and cried. He didn't care about the rehabilitation process, yes it would be hard, but not as hard as not being able to speak. He was so happy. He never even dreamed of being able to speak again. He had missed out on so much... Making friends, expressing himself, even ordering food. Everything was going to become so much easier now. His aunt would be so happy. He was now going to finally be himself again, he felt like being mute was what separated him from the Arashi that had lived happily with his parents, he almost felt that he could finally become that 'happy' person again.

Although being a bit surprised at the boy's initial action, Tsunade hugged him back, it must've been hard not being able to speak, especially during your childhood. This child had gone through so much in his life, and he was only twelve years old. The world they lived in sure was harsh on people.

"I assume you want to do the surgery after that reaction" Arashi just nodded, still trying to calm himself down "I'm going to schedule your surgery to a week from now, when I have the full details you will be informed by Shizune".

After thanking the Hokage as much as he could, Arashi went home, still beyond himself.

As he arrived home, he told his aunt everything. She was unbelievebly happy for him. They shared a long hug, and surprisingly enough, Haruki was the one that was tearing up. After a couple of minutes celebrating, the door opened.

"Yo!" interjected Kakashi as he arrived home.

"Kakashi-kun!" Haruki went and kissed her boyfriend. "You're finally back! How did your mission go?"

"I can't really talk about it, it was S-ranked" Kakashi revealed. "What's going on?" he asked as he saw the unusually great mood Arashi was in.

"Hokage-sama looked at his throat, and she will have him speaking again!"

"That's great news Arashi-kun. Did you pass your genin test?" questioned Kakashi, to which Arashi nodded. Even though they had lived together for a while now, their relationship wasn't really one of close proximity, and their conversations were always mostly short and straight to the point.

"How did it go?" Kakashi asked as he and the boy sat in their couch.

Arashi then told Kakashi about his new teammates, their chemistry problems, and how they (he) managed to land a hit on their new sensei.

"Chemistry comes with time, I know you'd rather have Koichi and Yuu on your team, but you'll see you will all be friends in no time" stated Kakashi as he gave him an eye-smile. He had been thoroughly impressed by what the boy had told him, especially by his last move.

"That was a very creative move you pulled off Arashi. I'll be staying in the village more for the next few years or so, as I need to get stronger, so I'd love for you to join me in some training sessions." added the silver-haired jonin, hoping he could do something for the boy, as he did feel a bit guilty for always being so distant.

'I'm starting my missions and training tomorrow, but I'll normally be free at the end of the afternoon for individual training. Sensei said she could still train us at those hours if we wanted too but I'll train with you then.' wrote Arashi.

"You weren't going to tell me you are going to be staying in the village more Kakashi?" joined in Haruki with a sweet yet scary smile.

'Women are scary' was the thought shared by both males as they gulped.

* * *

Author's note: As always let me know what you think, I'm open to suggestions and constructive criticism, it's the only way I'll improve. Today was my first day of college, everything went great. My work load doesn't seem like it will be unbearable, but I will have more difficulty finding time to write, or even being inspired. Even if it's not every week, updates will come on Fridays/Saturdays, so don't expect a chapter during the week.

_This week's question:_

**What grade are you currently in?**

I just started my first year of college, even though it's the second time. Last year I went to a different college but I dropped out, I didn't like the degree I was getting, I was kind of forced into it. Just do what you love people.

_Answering reviews:_

**Uchiha Arashi:** I definitely get where you're coming from man, and thank you for the advice! It's just that I've found out I have a hard time developing characters, and there will be some periods of time where nothing much will be going on in my story's world. I'll definitely try to slow the pace, but there will be some time skips still (and a major one) later on in the story. I'll do my best to try and find t a sweet spot between time skipping and story progression. Thank you so much for your review!


End file.
